In the production of bread, bread dough prepared in a mixer is divided into volumes suitable for baking and then subjected to processing such as intermediate fermentation.
An apparatus that performs such a dough dividing process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,611 (Patent Literature 1). In this apparatus, a manifold that receives dough from a mixer divides it into a plurality of streams of dough and continuously discharges the dough streams from its outlets. The dough discharged from each outlet is divided into pieces by a blade that periodically slides along the outlet end surface downward from above it. Specifically, the blade has a cutting edge that slides along the outlet end surface. When the cutting edge slides along the outlet end surface downward from above it, the blade extends obliquely upward from the cutting edge. When the cutting edge has slid across the outlet end surface, the blade is pivoted to extend substantially vertically so as to separate the cutting edge from the outlet end surface. While being pivoted in this way, the blade is moved upward to prevent it from interfering with the subsequent flow of dough discharged from the outlet.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,070 (Patent Literature 2) discloses another dough dividing apparatus. In this apparatus, a blade having a cutting edge slidably engaged with the associated outlet end surface of a manifold is circularly moved along the end surface, thereby causing the cutting edge to move across the outlet in the course of circularly moving downward from above and thus cutting dough.    Patent Literature 1: U.S. Pat. No. 4,948,611    Patent Literature 2: U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,070